Beth+David’s Wedding in St. John, USVI

Ohhh boy oh boy oh boy. Not sure where to begin here, so I guess I’ll just start from our introduction to Beth and David. :) When we were photographing Kelly and Danny‘s wedding in the Outer Banks, Kelly introduced the four of us because we all lived in Durham and because we all have cats. Carolyn found out that Beth had six cats and instantly fell in love with her. We proceeded to photograph the wedding, and Carolyn proceeded to go over and talk to Beth about cats during mini breaks in the reception shooting. We all kept in touch after the wedding, met each other’s cats, and Beth introduced Carolyn to the joy/obsession of growing succulents. They’ve since moved into our neighborhood and it’s been amazing have friends so close by with so many cats who cook really good food for us. :)

We are extraordinarily lucky to have met them and to call them our friends and for Beth to work at a place that has US Virgin Island housing perks. :) We are also incredibly thankful, beyond words really, that they asked us to join them and photograph their very small intimate 6-person wedding on Trunk Bay in St. John. We kinda maybe sorta flipped out a bit when we were asked… and tried not to email back TOO quickly and use TOO many exclamation marks, but we failed. On our week-long trip, we were joined by Jeff and Diane, their good friends and best man/matron of honor, who were amazing trip companions and very handy people to know when Carolyn injured or hurt herself in various accident-prone ways.

We sat in the hot tub on our deck every night overlooking the stars, swam with sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, barracudas. We all happily drank a lot of amazing island drinks, got a great deal of hiking exercise, drove on the left side of some very dangerous roads, received really intense sunburn in exchange for some much needed vitamin D, went on a boat trip to the British Virgin Islands where we saw, from afar, the mansion of the inventor of Miracle Gro. :) We came back with amazing memories and are so, so, thankful to have been there. It was beautiful watching our friends get married and I’m still in shock at our good fortune to have been there.

Date: March 4, 2014

Ceremony Venue: Trunk Bay // St. John, USVI

Reception Venue: Waterfront Bistro // Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI

Beth’s Occupation: Marketing researcher

David’s Occupation: Forester

How You Met: At a Halloween Party in Richmond, VA (Beth was Margot Tenenbaum and David was a Mormon. Our first date was a road trip to Montreal!

Interesting Bride Fact: I love costumes, and I actually enjoyed wearing the flare when I worked at T.G.I.Fridays in college.

Interesting Groom Fact: David is a professional forester (which is sort of weird in and of itself) who is also allergic to most tree species in the southeast.

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Anne Marie Porter, St. John’s Barefoot Minister | Florist – Susan Campanella-Pratt at Passon Flower | Hair and Makeup – Tyler Meyil and Jenny Patino at Drift Away Salon | Bride’s Wedding Gown Belt – Diane Winner

Jen+Aaron’s NC Engagement Session

We were lucky enough to come across these two by way of Kaylene and Brandon! Jen was Brandon’s neighbor when they lived in Georgia. After Georgia, we kind of lose track of Jen’s whereabouts. :) Aaron’s from Ohio, but after Ohio we kind of lose track of him too. :) Before you think we’re bad people who just don’t pay attention to our clients, know that both Jen and Aaron are military, so cut some slack! It gets confusing after about four states. :D

Jen’s currently in the Air Force in HR and Aaron’s a paratrooper in the Army. They met in college and right now are having to be apart for a little while due to military obligations (Jen just returned from deployment and Aaron is currently getting deployed shortly). They’re currently planning a spring wedding in Charleston, SC. It’s a hard schedule but when you’re as completely adorable as these guys, you can see why it’s easy for them to stay together. :) We had an amazing time getting to know them on what was a beaaaautiful sixty-some degree February day in Durham.

Kim+Ginny’s Engagement Session in Raleigh

Man oh man, we were lucky to find these two (or three, if you count Levi the dog, which we certainly should count). Our lovely photographer friend Julia Wade is friends with these ladies but was booked for their wedding date. She lovingly referred them to us and we are eternally grateful because they’re amazing and beautiful people inside and out… plus we obviously got to meet Levi. ;)

So third time’s a charm, right? Sometimes you come down to Raleigh from Virginia for your engagement session and it rains all weekend. Then sometimes you try to move your engagement session to Virginia but it happens to be negative seven degrees the day you try to take them. Then finally you come back down to Raleigh… again… and there’s actual sun and a not-quite-freezing day. :)

Kim (longer darker curlier hair) and Ginny (straight hair) thus finally had their engagement session with us after much patience and much weather-watching! They gratefully came in from Virginia and hung out with us for a while and we had a splendid time! They brought with them their amazing dog who has the uncanny ability to make the craziest faces ever when you take his ears and put them out at their sides like Dumbo. We promise he’s not being tortured… he just looks like it? It’s some kind of crazy Levi reflex. So we took a lot of pictures of him making crazy faces. And adorable faces. And Kim and Ginny spent some time making the most ridiculous high-pitched squealing noises we’ve ever heard trying to get him to tilt his head (a success). It was fantastic. And we cannot wait to be reunited with these two for their wedding in DC in August!